News

Buncombe DA pushes to see failed SBI tests

(Asheville Citizen-Times) District Attorney Ron Moore and a victims’ advocate are pushing for a judge’s order they say would compel state officials to turn over documents showing some crime analysts had failed certification tests.

The State Bureau of Investigation is refusing to turn over the tests despite pressure from local prosecutors such as Moore. He made the motion June 26 in Buncombe County Superior Court, saying the agency’s refusal to provide the information is illegal.

Buncombe County Superior Court Judge Gary M. Gavenus has yet to sign an order on the motion.

About two dozen analysts failed national certification tests that were supposed to reassure the public that laboratory work is performed correctly.

The agency was criticized two years ago when an auditor who found that hundreds of blood examinations had been incorrectly reported. A review found that the SBI lab’s policies and procedures improperly favored prosecutors.

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Forsyth County schools resegregated, but opinions differ on whether that’s a problem

(Journal Now) Many of Forsyth County’s public schools have resegregated over the last 40 years as national court decisions, and local political ones, favored neighborhood schools over racially and economically balanced ones.

Although schools with many poor students clearly score lower on tests, education experts and community leaders disagree on whether putting students of different demographics together is necessary.

An equity committee assembled by the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Board of Education to study school assignment issues called attention to the shift in reports every year from 1997 through 2001. With little left to say, the committee disbanded.

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Study links physical punishment to later mental disorders

(USA Today) Children who are spanked, hit, or pushed as a means of discipline may be at an increased risk of mental problems in adulthood — from mood and anxiety disorders to drug and alcohol abuse, new research suggests.

Although it is well established that physical and sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and other severe forms of maltreatment in childhood are associated with mental illness, this is one of the first studies to show a link between non-abusive physical punishment and several different types of mental disorders, says epidemiologist Tracie Afifi, lead author of the study in today’s Pediatrics.

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Perdue vetoes bid to start gas fracking in N.C.

(Rocky Mountain Telegram via AP) Governor Bev Perdue vetoed legislation Sunday that would allow a form of shale gas exploration called fracking in North Carolina, saying the measure did too little to protect drinking water, landowners and local governments.

The measure now returns to the General Assembly. The outcome of an override vote as early as Monday is uncertain because there may not be enough votes in the House to meet the required three-fifths majority.

Perdue has expressed tempered support for hydraulic fracturing if the right regulations are in place and it can be done safely to protect drinking water and citizens. She agreed with supporters of fracking that it could help create jobs and lower energy costs.

But the Democratic governor said the Republican-led General Assembly’s legislation fell short.

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Perdue vetoes NC death penalty bias law rollback

(SF Gate via AP) Gov. Beverly Perdue on Thursday vetoed legislation that rolls back a landmark North Carolina law allowing death row inmates to prove their sentence resulted from racial bias.

The Racial Justice Act directs judges to reduce a sentence to life in prison if they find race was a significant factor in a convicted murderer receiving a death sentence or in the composition of jurors hearing a case. Only Kentucky has a similar law.

“As long as I am governor, I will fight to make sure the death penalty stays on the books in North Carolina. But it has to be carried out fairly — free of prejudice,” Perdue said in a statement.

The Republican-controlled Legislature passed the bill by margins that would appear to be enough for an override of the Democratic governor’s veto. Legislative leaders said they would try to push the legislation into law over Perdue’s effort to block it.

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CBS: Roberts switched vote on health care

(USA Today) The decision by Chief Justice John Roberts to uphold President Obama’s health care law will be studied for years — and now details are emerging from the normally leak-proof Supreme Court itself.

Jan Crawford of CBS News, citing “two sources with specific knowledge of the deliberations,” reports that Roberts indeed switched his vote after siding with four other conservative justices who supported striking down the law.

“Roberts then withstood a month-long, desperate campaign to bring him back to his original position, the sources said,” reports Crawford.

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Legislature makes Asheville airport independent

(Asheville Citizen Times) The state House on Thursday approved a bill that makes Asheville Regional Airport an independent government agency as of Sunday, the last step needed before the measure becomes law.

The impact of the widely expected move will be mostly behind the scenes, and passengers and other area residents will “see no differences,” said airport Director Lew Bleiweis.

The bill moves ownership of the airport from city government to an independent authority, changes the board that governs the airport to give Henderson County more representation, strips city government of zoning control over the airport and streamlines some administrative procedures.

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N.C. Senate’s inaction could give feds control of state’s health exchanges

(Raleigh News Observer) North Carolina risks losing control of the health insurance marketplace it has to establish under the federal law the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Thursday if it hesitates to authorize it much longer.

The state is also assessing the financial impact of adding more than half a million people to the Medicaid program as a result of the court’s ruling.

States have a deadline of Jan. 1 to have their insurance exchanges certified by the federal government. Those that don’t will be required to have federally run exchanges, although they can apply to transition to state-run programs in subsequent years.

The benefits exchanges are supposed to begin operation in January 2014, providing people without insurance and small businesses a regulated marketplace to shop for coverage

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Audit: DOT employees in Haywood wasted thousands

(Asheville Citizen-Times) State Department of Transportation employees in Haywood County and other mountain counties wasted thousands of dollars through poor management of equipment, questionable purchases and other means, the Office of the State Auditor said this morning.

An investigative report by the office says:

– A project to improve roads in Maggie Valley originally estimated at $1.8 million cost $5.5 million in part because DOT workers did not follow proper procedures for use of rental equipment.

– A DOT employee based in the Division 14 office in Jackson County who was responsible for rental equipment contracts did engineering work on the side for the company that got about half of Division 14’s rental business.

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Work on new sex-ed curriculum moves ahead

(The McDowell News) In July, a select group of educators will join forces and start putting together a sex-ed curriculum guide that follows the requirements of the Healthy Youth Act.

During June’s Board of Education Meeting, Assistant Superintendent Becky Pearson reviewed her plans for creating the curriculum with board members.

Pearson’s strategy to create a new sex-ed curriculum comes after a specially called meeting in May on the schools’ former sex-education plan, Proud Choices. At that meeting, board members decided to seek an alternative to the Proud Choices program, which some said did not conform to the community’s beliefs.

“As you all know, I brought you up to date on these plans at the last board meeting,” said Pearson. “Since then, we’ve moved forward with our plans to hold training to create the new curriculum during the week of July 9.”

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Local Room Tax To Be Increased, State Senate Bill Wants to Earmark The Tax Money For The Flat Rock Playhouse

(WHKP) State Senate Bill Says Flat Rock Playhouse To Receive Money From An Increase In County Occupancy Tax

The North Carolina General Assembly has been putting the finishing touches this week on giving authority to the Henderson County commissioners to raise the “occupancy” or motel/hotel room tax by a penny. The tax is used to finance Travel and Tourism in Henderson County, but the state SENATE bill authorizing the tax increase earmarks the money from the increase for the Flat Rock Playhouse for a period of three years. The Playhouse is already receiving taxpayer’s money allocated by Hendersonville city council and by the Henderson County commissioners.

The state HOUSE bill, introduced by Representative Chuck McGrady, re-structures local Travel and Tourism and makes it more an independent local “authority” and authorizes the county commissioners to raise the room tax a penny.. Even though there are difference in the state house and senate bills, those differences are expected to be resolved this week and the room tax increase to is expected to become law.

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High court upholds key part of Obama health law

(AP) The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the individual insurance requirement at the heart of President Barack Obama’s historic health care overhaul.

The decision means the huge overhaul, still only partly in effect, will proceed and pick up momentum over the next several years, affecting the way that countless Americans receive and pay for their personal medical care. The ruling also hands Obama a campaign-season victory in rejecting arguments that Congress went too far in requiring most Americans to have health insurance or pay a penalty.

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Witnesses: Woman trying to eat salad when she crashed in Swannanoa

(Asheville Citizen-Times) Law enforcement officials say distracted driving is a growing problem in the area, as evidenced by a fairly bizarre crash: A woman wrecked her SUV while trying to eat a salad, witnesses told the N.C. Highway Patrol.

“What we’re finding is more and more collisions are being caused by inattention and drivers that are distracted,” 1st Sgt. Pat Staggs said. “Speed has always been the No. 1 collision cause factor in North Carolina, but we’re finding driver inattention is really beginning to become a serious issue in collision-causing factors.”

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Facebook pulls location-tracking feature

(CNN) Following a period of freak-out on the Internet on Monday, Facebook appears to have pulled a controversial feature that let the social network’s users get a digital list of other Facebookers nearby.

The “Find Friends Nearby” feature was not accessible in a CNN test on Tuesday morning, and other media outlets, including CNET, reported that Facebook had pulled the service.

In a statement e-mailed to CNN, a Facebook spokeswoman declined to elaborate.

“This wasn’t a formal release — this was something that a few engineers were testing,” the spokeswoman wrote. “With all tests, some get released as full products, others don’t. Nothing more to say on this for now — we’ll communicate to everyone when there is something to say.”

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States consider raising fines for distracted driving

(USA Today) Growing concern over the continued use of cellphones by drivers has some states reviewing laws against the practice and exploring stiffer fines and harsher penalties.

A 2010 study by the Highway Loss Data Institute, an affiliate of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, found that current texting bans are not reducing the risk or amount of crashes. But some question whether tougher punishment is the answer.

Justin McNaull, director of state relations for auto club AAA, says seat belt studies show that when states impose higher fines, more motorists obey the laws.

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